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Contemporary forms of internal displacement in Africa significantly reflect the emerging footprints of non-state actors on the regional landscape of internal displacement. In recognition of the impact of these actors in the internal displacement context, the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) specifically obligate states to regulate them in the prevention of arbitrary displacement. This is the central thrust of this article. This article examines the Kampala Convention from the perspective of non-state actors, considering the obligation of the state and the extent to which these actors may be held accountable, in the furtherance of protection and assistance of internally displaced persons (IDP s).

On 10 September 2019, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (OAU Refugee Convention) turned 50, while on 23 October 2019 the African Union (AU) Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) turned 10. It is against this backdrop that the designation by the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government of 2019 as the Year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Africa, is significant.

Over the last several decades, states have demonstrated significant political commitment towards advancing protection and assistance for internally displaced persons. A notable form in which this commitment has been reflected is in the emergence of normative standards, with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (UNGP) as the guiding text. The fact that the UNGP framework has found expression in the landscape on internal displacement is evidenced at various levels of governance. Within the African context, the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) draws on pertinent normative frameworks, with the UNGP as the leading framework. While this point is often made in general terms, this article focuses on the extent to which the norm on internal displacement has diffused and expanded within the African context.

This article considers the protection of, and assistance for, internally displaced children (IDCs) in Africa. Internal displacement has become one of Africa's most pressing human rights challenges. Over the last decade, millions of persons have been internally displaced on the continent by conflict, disaster and other causes. Children are one of the most affected categories of persons, given the implications of displacement for them. Article 23(4) of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child incorporates specific protection for IDCs. This article examines the protection of IDCs in the context of this regional framework. It argues that, while article 23(4) requires that both refugee children and IDCs should be accorded the same protection from a rights-based perspective, it also requires that the protection of IDCs should be construed with reference to the Kampala Convention, which is the most recent applicable regional regime governing internal displacement.

Arguably the least discussed root cause of internal displacement, harmful practices are a prevalent concern in many African societies. The explicit mention of harmful practices is one of the many innovations of the Kampala Convention and reinforce its forward-looking, context-specific focus on Africa. This article argues that the convention has an absolute prohibition of harmful practices. This is an important starting point from which to discuss the content of states’ obligation to set measures for preventing harmful practices. However, in the event that displacement occurs due to these practices, it is important that protection, humanitarian assistance and durable solutions are provided. This article argues that states must set measures for ensuring that non-state actors are held accountable in the event that they orchestrate harmful practices. In fostering compliance, this article argues that there is an important role for institutions beyond the state, particularly those emphasized under article 14 of the convention.

The Kampala Convention has emerged as a significant regional framework for the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Africa. Over the last decade, the importance of this framework has been reflected at various levels of governance. However, one gap in the literature relates to the institutional arrangements surrounding the Kampala Convention, even as it moves beyond the first decade and has been ratified by nearly two-thirds of the current Member States of the African Union. This issue is the thrust of this article. In particular, it examines how the institutions of the wider African Union system can shape the implementation of the Kampala Convention and better ensure protection and assistance for IDPs in this region.

Over the last decade, the issue of xenophobia has emerged as a pertinent concern in many parts of the African continent. While significant scholarly literature on the issue of xenophobia has notabl...

A notable proportion of the persons living in situations of internal displacement in Africa are children. Despite the near-universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the wide ratification of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child among States in Africa, it is not clear the extent to which the ratification of these treaties has influenced the region’s legal framework for the protection and assistance of internally displaced children. This contribution addresses this issue through its analysis of the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa from a children’s rights perspective. While the Convention does incorporate some principles of a children’s rights perspective, the analysis reveals that there are some inadequacies regarding the Convention’s overall incorporation of a children’s rights perspective. Based on the analysis, this contribution provides recommendations to use a children’s rights perspective to implement the Convention.

While significant attention has thus far been paid to the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention), the rules of humanitarian law that it sets out have not yet been the subject of a specific in-depth analysis. This contribution aims to fill this gap in the literature. It specifically examines the humanitarian law rules contained in the Kampala Convention to determine their meaning and scope, as well as their contribution to strengthening international humanitarian law (IHL). It begins by analysing the articulation of these regional humanitarian rules with the universal rules of IHL that preceded them to determine whether there is any divergence between them. Next, the paper attempts to determine the extent to which the humanitarian law provisions of the Kampala Convention enrich the legal protections provided by IHL for the improvement of the plight of internally displaced persons from armed conflict. Finally, with an approach centred around making suggestions for law reform, the paper demonstrates why and how these rules should inspire the future development of conventional and customary norms that would assist with the challenges of conflict-induced displacement.

The Kampala Convention was adopted on 23 October 2009 and came into force on 4 January 2013. The first binding international instrument for the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons, it occupies an important space among the body of African regional humanitarian and human rights law. The Convention addresses all stages of internal displacement and provides a framework for coordinating activities by governments and humanitarian actors aimed at preventing and addressing internal displacement. The Kampala Convention is the result of many years of work, although no formal records of its drafting and negotiation were kept. This article contributes towards addressing this gap. Based on the author’s personal involvement in the Convention’s drafting, and supplementing earlier research, this article shares information previously unavailable in the public domain and provides a commentary on some of the Convention’s provisions.

Internally displaced persons are people who are uprooted from their social, economic, cultural and educational environment and made squatters or homeless within the jurisdiction of their own country. They consequently have no permanent place of abode. Internal displacement therefore becomes a situation that deprives individuals of access to justice and leads to violations of the human rights of categories of citizens. For example, women, children and the elderly are more vulnerable and lack social-economic assistance from their loved ones and family support because of their internal displacement. Their situation denies them access to justice from several perspectives, such as being in a state of despair, instability and uncertainty. This article examines the ways in which the domestication of the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa of 2009 (the Kampala Convention) and clinical legal education can be used to promote access for internally displaced persons to justice and basic human rights. In this regard, the article further analyses access to justice for internally displaced persons through the teaching methodology of clinical legal education in African legal jurisprudence. Finally, the article recommends the involvement of legal clinicians and other practitioners as advocates of internally displaced persons’ access to justice, respect for human rights and the rule of law as a requirement for the domestication of the Kampala Convention by Member States in Africa.

In the previous chapter, the emerging root causes of internal displacement were examined with a view to understanding the interlinkages between these issues and situations of internal displacement. Having examined these issues, it relevant to turn to the next area of focus which is how these issues may be addressed from a legal standpoint. This chapter builds on the premise that protecting internally displaced persons (IDPs) within these emerging contexts, from a legal standpoint, requires an understanding of the legal corpus on IDP protection and its application within emerging contexts. In advancing the discussion, this chapter begins with a discussion of the normative frameworks on internal displacement, providing an exposition on these frameworks, first from an historical background to ground an understanding of the internal displacement corpus. This chapter proceeds to discuss the scope of protection within these frameworks from a comparative perspective, analysing the provisions and drawing out the central theme of these frameworks: the right not to be arbitrarily displaced. Afterwards, this chapter considers the protection for IDPs in emerging contexts drawing on the implication of the right not to be arbitrarily displaced and what it entails for the protection of persons within the various contexts.

Land and property rights are fundamental to finding durable solutions for internally displaced persons (IDPs). While international instruments such as the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) provide for the protection of land and property rights of IDPs, such instruments require domestication before they acquire the status of national legislation in Zimbabwe. This chapter explores the protection of land and property rights of IDPs in Zimbabwe. It is argued that while there is no national legal framework specifically recognising and providing for the protection and assistance of IDPs, the 2013 Constitution articulates a Bill of Rights that protects the basic rights of IDPs. This chapter reviews the constitutional land and property rights framework from an IDPs’ perspective.

This contribution examines the implementation of the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) by relevant actors in Cameroon. It highlights the fact that there is a considerable gap between the legal provisions of the Kampala Convention and their practical application in Cameroon. On this basis, it argues that there is an urgent need to take necessary measures to reduce or close such a gap and thus improve the plight of the more than a million civilians who had been internally displaced as a result of deadly attacks by non-state armed groups in the far North region, growing violence in the English-speaking North-West and South-West regions and natural disasters. The approach envisaged to achieve this demonstration is articulated in three stages. First, the article sheds light on the huge scale of internal displacement in Cameroon and on the precarious situations of those who are victims of it. Then, through a critical approach, it discusses the limitations and difficulties that prevent the Kampala Convention from fully contributing to the improvement of the lot of IDPs in Cameroon. Finally, with an approach centred around making suggestions for law reform, the article puts forward possible solutions aimed at strengthening the implementation of the Kampala Convention in Cameroon

In 2018 on the 20th anniversary of the 1998 UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (Guiding Principles), South Sudan moved forward with development of a national law, namely the “Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons Act 2019” for the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons (IDPs), based on the Guiding Principles and the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons (Kampala Convention). Although the finalised draft legislation is yet to be adopted by the Government as at September 2020, the initiative represents an important step towards development of a legally binding national instrument of protection for IDPs. This chapter considers the process of developing the national law and how the draft national legislation provides for protection of IDPs.

With three million displaced people over the last couple of years, Ethiopia has one of the highest populations of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Large number of people are forced to flee their homes within the country due to conflict. The aim of this chapter is to doctrinally examine the adequacy of existing legal and policy frameworks concerning IDPs in Ethiopia. This chapter examines whether the existing national frameworks adequately protects IDPs, and if not, what gaps exist. This chapter argues that while existing domestic legal and policy frameworks contain elements relevant to protection of IDPs, they are not comprehensive and do not comprehensively respond to the specific needs and vulnerabilities of IDPs. This chapter makes the point that the absence of an adequate domestic legal and policy framework for protection of IDPs underlines the importance of domesticating the Kampala Convention.

In offering a view from the kitchen in this article, the author notes the appraisal of the 10th anniversary of the Kampala Convention, and argues that from its regional domain in the context of its inception and negotiation stretching from 2005 to its adoption in 2009, the Kampala Convention has modernised a somewhat soft static international legal framework relating to internally displaced persons based on the 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and the related 2006 Protocols of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region.

Globally, there is no binding legalisation promoting protection for 41,3 million people who are Internally Displaced Persons (IDP). Protection for IDPs is extracted from Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law, Refugee Law and non-legally binding recommendations from ‘The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement’. However, in 2009 the African Union transformed soft law into hard law and adopt a legally binding instrument to providing assistance and protection for IDPs, the Kampala Convention. The multi-disciplinary study will examine gender in internal displacement and protection of IDPs. Through a Human Right-Based Approach, it underlines the role of the state as a duty holder and IDPs as rights holders. The thesis will discuss the role of IDPs within International Law and points out existing legal gaps in a legal analysis. According to feminist approach to International Law, there is a disproportionate emphasises in legal frameworks and policies for women, men, boys, and girls. The theory is applied to demonstrate the legal reforms that needs to be considered. Furthermore, the thesis identifies which specific rights that are lacking in gendered protection of IDP and discussed how they are addressed in the Kampala convention. The setting is contextualized through the current situation for IDPs in Ethiopia. The findings describe how the Kampala Convention enhances right-based protection and awareness for IDP. However, it can be argued that the convention does not fulfil protection of gendered impacts of internal displacement holistically, particularly in term of economic, social, and cultural rights.

Given the need for legislation to protect internally displaced persons, African Heads of State and Government adopted the Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa in Kampala in October 2009. The convention, which entered into force on 6 December 2012, is an important binding instrument on internal displacement. Article 10 of the convention requires states to prevent displacement caused by development projects, including climate-based development projects. This article examines the content of this obligation within the context of climate-based development projects.

The African Union Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Convention is the first international treaty that recognises the right not to be arbitrary displaced in a legally binding instrument. This right gives rise to the corresponding duty on African state parties to protect their population against arbitrary displacement. In relation to the main root causes of internal displacement in Africa recognised under this binding instrument, this paper analyses the content of the right not to be arbitrary displaced and what states should do in order to prevent arbitrary displacement in line with their obligation under the IDP Convention.

Development-induced displacement has become one of the pressing human rights concern in Africa with thousands displaced by development projects across the continent each year. The political viewpoint that development projects are panaceas for economic development has often made their socio-economic implications for displaced persons’ pale in comparison. In a bid to address this form of displacement, the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons mandate states to prevent development-induced displacement. Seeking to mitigate the tension between the essence of the development project and respect for the rights of displaced persons, article 10 of the Convention mandate states to prevent development-induced displacement. This paper discusses the content of the obligation in fostering legal protection for development-induced displaced persons in Africa.

This article examines the value of the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) in the general quest for the regional and global protection of internally displaced persons (IDPs). It contends that the absence of a globally binding legal instrument for the protection of IDPs underlines the importance of the Kampala Convention and the possible contribution it can make to global and regional efforts to create a binding legal framework for the protection of IDPs. While recognizing some challenges that may impact the full implementation of the Convention, the article concludes by noting its various positive elements that are invaluable in overall efforts to create a comprehensive global legal framework to enhance protection of IDPs.